Statistics

MANILA, Philippines – The ratio of non-performing loans (NPL) of universal and commercial banks to the industry’s total loan portfolio continued to improve as of end-March this year as corporate and individual borrowers were able to pay their outstanding financial obligations on time, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday.

The Noynoy Aquino phenomenon – the emergence of a reluctant presidential candidate who is now poised to become the next Philippine president – has spawned another phenomenon. This phenomenon can be called SURVEY PHOBIA or the irrational fear of survey results.

SURE WINNER?: Concern was expressed by a number of readers reacting to our Postscript of April 25 calling attention to propaganda that the only way Candidate X, who thinks he is a sure winner, to lose is for him to be cheated.

THIS is in reaction to Kristine L. Alave’s news report titled “Voting populations improbably high; numbers don’t add up.” (Inquirer, 3/17/10) First, we wish to correct the information that the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) has a “census department” headed by Redencion Ignacio. Ignacio is a statistical coordination officer of NSCB’s Social Sector A Division.

IS IT A TIE?: Postscript has questioned some partisans’ calling a “statistical tie” the close ranking of presidential bets Noynoy Aquino (36 percent, Liberal) and Manny Villar (34 percent, Nacionalista) in the Feb. 24-28 nationwide survey of the Social Weather Stations.

Gloria’s graft-ridden gov’t root of widespread poverty—Erap It is no surprise that the Philippines under President Arroyo is again still in the bottom list of corrupt economies.

MACTAN, Cebu – Mactan is my favorite local tourist destination. It has an international airport with a lot of flights in and out. It also has a number of world class resorts. With the early onset of summer, it was time to take an advanced holiday in Mactan’s Plantation Bay.

THE recent double full-page “Ganito tayo noon, Ganito tayo ngayon” ads trumpeting the supposed achievements of President Macapagal-Arroyo bring to mind the quote attributed to 19th century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli: “There are three kinds of lies: Lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

THE easing of visa restrictions has seen an employment bonanza as a total of 33,000 new jobs for Filipinos where created last year after more than 400 foreign businessmen and their dependents from 34 countries were given indefinite visas by the government.

THE Philippine National Police (PNP) has adopted a more efficient and accurate system of crime reporting in line with its Integrated Transformation Program in developing police systems and procedures. The National Crime Reporting System (NCRS) is now being implemented in all PNP units to report crime incidents to the national headquarters for centralized recording.

MANILA, Phlippines – If the government invests less on statistics, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) warned that there would be a higher chance that government programs and projects would suffer from poor targeting, which causes leakages and exclusions.

MANAGING FOR SOCIETY It’s surely meant well, the proposal of Rep. Rufino Biazon of Muntinpupa urging education authorities to record the volunteer work of students and credit it toward their National Service Training Program (NTSP) requirements. It makes even more sense these days when everything feels a bit like the 70s again—the floods, the sense…

Researching a recent column, I couldn’t help noting how anomalous the figures in the quarterly Labor Force Survey (LFS) appear to be, as are some of the categories. An example of the latter is that “unpaid family workers”0 are counted as employed. (This is, it should be noted, also the case in other countries.) There…

The country is three months away from a technical recession after the economy shrank by 2.3 percent in the first quarter compared with the final three months of last year due mainly to the government’s failure to deliver a massive pump-priming commitment.